Matzuva

Matzuva belongs to the Mateh Asher Regional Council and lies approximately two kilometers from the Lebanese border in the western Galilee.[3] Residents identify the Sullam ridge as the boundary, with the area of Wadi Qataya and Nahal Namer visible to the north.[3] Established as the third border outpost in the western Galilee after Hanita and Eilon, the kibbutz developed an economy combining farming with textile manufacturing.[1]

Its proximity to the border has figured prominently in its history, from a deadly attack on road traffic nearby in 2002 to the departure of most residents during the war beginning in October 2023.[3][4] Alongside these security challenges, Matzuva’s history includes the settlement of European Jewish immigrants, the development of orchards on difficult terrain, and the establishment of an agricultural education program.[1][5]

Matzuva was founded in 1940 by graduates of Youth Aliyah from Germany and Austria.[1] Its early development required substantial reclamation of hilly land, while residents faced water shortages and a high incidence of malaria.[1] Sea winds damaged the fruit orchards, although most of these initial difficulties had been overcome by 1948.[1]

Among the founders were Walter-Eliyahu Korn and his wife, Aliza-Chava Mayburg, whom he married in 1941.[6] Korn had arrived in Mandatory Palestine in March 1939 after agricultural hakhshara near Berlin.[6] His parents, Arnold and Erna, and his sister Irene-Reni remained in Berlin.[6] Reni was deported to Latvia on August 15, 1942, and his parents were sent to Auschwitz on March 12, 1943; all three were murdered.[6]

Before the war, Korn’s parents sent him letters weekly; later, occasional telegrams reached him through the Red Cross.[6] A telegram dated December 21, 1942, addressed to “Korn Eliyahu, Matzuba Group, Post Office, Nahariya,” reported that the couple and their relatives were healthy, that a baby was expected at the end of January, and that “Work is good.”[6] A February 1943 telegram was the last sign of life from his parents.[6] In 2015, their granddaughter Edna Natans donated the letters Walter had received, together with two photograph albums, to Yad Vashem.[6]

During the June 1946 Night of the Bridges operation, Palmach fighters approaching the nearby A’Ziv, or Achziv, Bridge were detected, and an incoming bullet apparently detonated their explosives, killing 14 fighters.[2] Zahara Leviatov, who suffered an eye injury, reached Matzuva and hid in the children’s dormitory disguised as one of the children.[2] A caregiver prevented British police from discovering her by saying that she had a dangerous illness and could not be seen; the ruse prevented her arrest.[2]

In a recollection published in 2003, founder and Holocaust survivor Eliyahu Koren recalled that the settlement initially lacked water and electricity.[7] He also recalled a three-month siege during the 1948 War of Independence, when residents ate porridge made from laundry starch and mushrooms they grew.[7]

On March 12, 2002, two terrorists crossed from Lebanon using a ladder, positioned themselves at Matzuva Junction, and fired small arms and threw grenades at vehicles on the road.[4] Five civilians and an IDF officer were killed.[4] The attack began at 12:24 in the Hanita–Matzuva area.[8] Both terrorists were killed.[9] Lieutenant German Rozhkov was in the area and charged the terrorists before dying in the encounter.[10]

Residents began leaving Matzuva on October 8, 2023, during the war, and the kibbutz subsequently became almost entirely empty.[3] Resident Iris Moshe left that day after receiving a regional council message; on a later visit to water plants, she slept in the bomb shelter and encountered checkpoints, soldiers, and sometimes tanks in the kibbutz.[11] About a week and a half into the war, approximately 95 percent of residents had departed.[4]

Some families left later: Karin Nathans Gefen and her children were evacuated on October 18, while her husband remained as a reservist serving with the kibbutz’s emergency standby squad.[12] Evacuated residents sought to maintain community life while staying in a Tiberias hotel, amid uncertainty over when they could return.[12] A small group, mainly emergency squad members, remained in Matzuva, established an emergency operations room within two weeks, and worked alongside the military.[3]

The evacuation also exposed a gap in accommodation assistance: army records placed Matzuva 2,180 meters from the Lebanon border, just beyond the two-kilometer threshold then used for state-funded guest-house accommodation.[4] A resident reported that dozens of people had indicated they might return because of the expense of remaining away.[4] By late 2024, houses had suffered damage including burst pipes and dampness, while repeated fires had damaged orchards and water infrastructure.[3] Residents cleared overgrown vegetation themselves to reduce the fire danger.[3]

Matzuva’s population was estimated at approximately 600 in the mid-1990s and recorded as 507 in 2002, when about a third of residents were over 70.[1] A separate 2003 report gave approximately 600 residents, including about 200 kibbutz members, and stated that roughly one-third of the members were over 70.[7]

A Bar-Ilan University profile of Efraim Cohen describes him as born and raised in Matzuva and identifies his parents, like many of their friends in the kibbutz, as Hungarian Holocaust survivors who immigrated through Zionist youth movements.[13] The profile recounts that his mother survived Mauthausen and that his father escaped a labor camp before joining the Zionist Youth Movement underground as a member of the Young Macabee group.[13]

In 1969, Matzuva’s economy depended predominantly on hill farming, especially fruit orchards, and a spinning mill.[1] Its agricultural branches later included citrus groves, other fruit orchards, and poultry farming.[1] Differential wages were introduced in 1999, and a 2003 report stated that the kibbutz had been privatized approximately three years earlier.[7]

The closure of the spinning mill in 2003 brought a severe economic crisis.[1] The collapse of the textile factory, Arigei Matzuva, left the kibbutz with reported debts of about NIS 45 million, approximately half attributable to the factory.[7] The crisis began with a NIS 1.6 million claim and an attachment on the factory’s and kibbutz’s accounts and production equipment.[7] A court-appointed trustee became involved, wage workers were dismissed, and service branches closed.[7]

Regional institutions and neighboring communities helped sustain essential activities.[7] The Mateh Asher Regional Council assumed responsibility for early-childhood services, Mishkei HaMifratz operated the agricultural branches, and neighboring Kibbutz Kabri supplied assistance that included food deliveries and employment for some dismissed members.[7]

By 2016, Matzuva’s crops included persimmons, bananas, avocados, pomegranates, lychees, and mangos.[14] That year the kibbutz destroyed a persimmon orchard after low rainfall and hot conditions made production unprofitable.[14] Farmer Johnny Agamia explained that the lack of rain required continued irrigation with treated wastewater, increasing costs and allowing salts to accumulate in the soil; he also reported that water quotas had been exhausted and that the kibbutz faced fines.[14]

In August 2026, a residential agricultural school operated by the Adam VeAdama network was scheduled to open in Matzuva during the coming school year.[5] The proposed program combined matriculation studies, preparation for military service, and agricultural work helping farmers in communities near the Lebanese border, under the supervision of the Education Ministry and the administration for agricultural and settlement education.[5] By October 2026, the network had established a branch at Matzuva.[15]

Remains of ancient buildings have been identified at Matzuva, including a Greek tomb bearing an inscription in Greek and Phoenician dated to 222–221 BCE.[1] The inscription records that a sanctuary of Astarte had been erected there.[1]

Responsibility for the March 2002 attack was presented differently in contemporary and subsequent accounts: Hezbollah was suspected of involvement, while Israeli security sources identified it as the coordinator of the two Palestinian terrorists.[9][16] The attack was unclaimed, and Lebanon denied that the terrorists had entered Israel from its territory.[9] The abandoned ladder was described as the only physical evidence linking Hezbollah to the attack.[9] Published accounts report six Israeli deaths, including five civilians and an IDF officer.[4][10] Two research reports differ on the number wounded, giving seven or eight.[8][16]